Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Impact Of Patient Demographics And Neighborhood Socioeconomic Variables On Clinical Trial Participation Patterns For Nhl, Chijioke Nze, Clark R Andersen, Amy A Ayers, Jason Westin, Michael Wang, Swaminathan Iyer, Sairah Ahmed, Chelsea Pinnix, Francisco Vega, Lynne Nguyen, Lorna Mcneill, Loretta J Nastoupil, Kehe Zhang, Cici X Bauer, Christopher R Flowers

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Prior studies have demonstrated that certain populations including older patients, racial/ethnic minority groups, and women are underrepresented in clinical trials. We performed a retrospective analysis of patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) seen at MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) to investigate the association between trial participation, race/ethnicity, travel distance, and neighborhood socioeconomic status (nSES). Using patient addresses, we ascertained nSES variables on educational attainment, income, poverty, racial composition, and housing at the census tract (CT) level. We also performed geospatial analysis to determine the geographic distribution of clinical trial participants and distance from patient residence to MDACC. We examined 3146 consecutive …

School Knowledge Of Infectious Diseases In Schools: Conducting Surveillance And On-Demand, Symptomatic Respiratory Viral Testing In A Large Pre-Kindergarten-12th Grade School District., Jennifer E. Schuster, Tamoor T Chohdry, Chris T. Young, Brian R. Lee, Dithi Banerjee, Anjana Sasidharan, Olivia M Almendares, Hannah L Kirking, Janelle Porter, Anila Deliu, Shannon Tilsworth, Rangaraj Selvarangan, Jennifer Goldman

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Limited data about acute respiratory illness (ARI) and respiratory virus circulation are available in congregate community settings, specifically schools. To better characterize the epidemiology of ARI and respiratory viruses in schools, we developed School Knowledge of Infectious Diseases in Schools (School KIDS).

METHODS: School KIDS is a prospective, respiratory viral testing program in a large metropolitan school district (pre-kindergarten-12th grade) in Kansas City, Missouri. During the 2022-2023 school year, all students and staff were eligible to participate in surveillance respiratory viral testing at school by submitting observed self-administered nasal swabs monthly. Participants could also submit a nasal swab for …

Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency As A Cause For Nonimmune Hydrops Fetalis And Severe Fetal Anemia: A Systematic Review, Neel S. Iyer, Matthew H. Mossayebi, Tracy J. Gao, Lylach Haizler-Cohen, Daniele Di Mascio, Rodney A. Mclaren, Huda B. Al-Kouatly

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is an X-linked recessive disorder that predisposes individuals to hemolysis due to an inborn error of metabolism. We performed a systematic literature review to evaluate G6PD deficiency as a possible etiology of nonimmune hydrops fetalis (NIHF) and severe fetal anemia.

METHODS: PubMed, OVID Medline, Scopus, and clinicaltrials.gov were queried from inception until 31 April 2023 for all published cases of NIHF and severe fetal anemia caused by G6PD deficiency. Keywords included "fetal edema," "hydrops fetalis," "glucose 6 phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency," and "fetal anemia." Cases with workup presuming G6PD deficiency as an etiology for NIHF and …

Trust Criteria For Artificial Intelligence In Health: Normative And Epistemic Considerations, Kristin Kostick-Quenet, Benjamin H Lang, Jared Smith, Meghan Hurley, Jennifer Blumenthal-Barby

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) in healthcare raise pressing questions about how much users should trust AI/ML systems, particularly for high stakes clinical decision-making. Ensuring that user trust is properly calibrated to a tool's computational capacities and limitations has both practical and ethical implications, given that overtrust or undertrust can influence over-reliance or under-reliance on algorithmic tools, with significant implications for patient safety and health outcomes. It is, thus, important to better understand how variability in trust criteria across stakeholders, settings, tools and use cases may influence approaches to using AI/ML tools in real settings. As …

Association Between Diabetes Mellitus And Total Hip Arthroplasty Outcomes: An Observational Study Using The Us National Inpatient Sample, Sumanth Chandrupatla, Kranti Rumalla, Jasvinder A Singh

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association of diabetes with postoperative outcomes in patients undergoing primary total hip arthroplasty (THA).

DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study using data from the US National Inpatient Sample (NIS).

SETTING: Study cohort was hospitalisations for primary THA in the USA, identified from the 2016-2020 NIS.

PARTICIPANTS: We identified 2 467 215 adults in the 2016-2020 NIS who underwent primary THA using International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision codes. Primary THA hospitlizations were analysed as the overall group and also stratified by the underlying primary diagnosis for THA.

OUTCOME MEASURES: Outcome measures of interest were the length of hospital …

Targeted Degradation Of Extracellular Mitochondrial Aspartyl-Trna Synthetase Modulates Immune Responses, Benjamin S Johnson, Janet S Lee, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The severity of bacterial pneumonia can be worsened by impaired innate immunity resulting in ineffective pathogen clearance. We describe a mitochondrial protein, aspartyl-tRNA synthetase (DARS2), which is released in circulation during bacterial pneumonia in humans and displays intrinsic innate immune properties and cellular repair properties. DARS2 interacts with a bacterial-induced ubiquitin E3 ligase subunit, FBXO24, which targets the synthetase for ubiquitylation and degradation, a process that is inhibited by DARS2 acetylation. During experimental pneumonia, Fbxo24 knockout mice exhibit elevated DARS2 levels with an increase in pulmonary cellular and cytokine levels. In silico modeling identified an FBXO24 inhibitory compound with immunostimulatory …

First-In-Human Dose Escalation Trial To Evaluate The Clinical Safety And Efficacy Of An Anti-Magea1 Autologous Tcr-Transgenic T Cell Therapy In Relapsed And Refractory Solid Tumors, Martin Wermke, Tobias A W Holderried, Jason John Luke, Van K Morris, Winfried H Alsdorf, Katrin Wetzko, Borje S Andersson, Ignacio I Wistuba, Edwin R Parra, Mohammad B Hossain, Sandra Grund-Gröschke, Katrin Aslan, Arun Satelli, Anantha Marisetty, Swapna Satam, Mamta Kalra, Jens Hukelmann, M Alper Kursunel, Karine Pozo, Andreas Acs, Linus Backert, Melissa Baumeister, Sebastian Bunk, Claudia Wagner, Oliver Schoor, Ali S Mohamed, Andrea Mayer-Mokler, Norbert Hilf, Delfi Krishna, Steffen Walter, Apostolia M Tsimberidou, Cedrik M Britten

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

RATIONALE OF THE TRIAL: Although the use of engineered T cells in cancer immunotherapy has greatly advanced the treatment of hematological malignancies, reaching meaningful clinical responses in the treatment of solid tumors is still challenging. We investigated the safety and tolerability of IMA202 in a first-in-human, dose escalation basket trial in human leucocyte antigen A*02:01 positive patients with melanoma-associated antigen A1 (MAGEA1)-positive advanced solid tumors.

TRIAL DESIGN: The 2+2 trial design was an algorithmic design based on a maximally acceptable dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) rate of 25% and the sample size was driven by the algorithmic design with a maximum of …

Senescent Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts In Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Restrict Cd8+ T Cell Activation And Limit Responsiveness To Immunotherapy In Mice, Benjamin Assouline, Sheila A Stewart, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Senescent cells within tumors and their stroma exert complex pro- and anti-tumorigenic functions. However, the identities and traits of these cells, and the potential for improving cancer therapy through their targeting, remain poorly characterized. Here, we identify a senescent subset within previously-defined cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC) and in premalignant lesions in mice and humans. Senescent CAFs isolated from mouse and humans expressed elevated levels of immune-regulatory genes. Depletion of senescent CAFs, either genetically or using the Bcl-2 inhibitor ABT-199 (venetoclax), increased the proportion of activated CD8

Transcatheter Heart Valve Explant With Infective Endocarditis-Associated Prosthesis Failure And Outcomes: The Explant-Tavr International Registry, Mateo Marin-Cuartas, Gilbert H L Tang, Philipp Kiefer, Shinichi Fukuhara, Rudiger Lange, Katherine B Harrington, Shekhar Saha, Christian Hagl, Neal S Kleiman, Sachin S Goel, Joerg Kempfert, Paul Werner, George A Petrossian, Arnar Geirsson, Nimesh D Desai, Michael W A Chu, Oliver D Bhadra, Christian Shults, Andrea Garatti, Flavien Vincent, Kendra J Grubb, Joshua B Goldberg, Michael J Mack, Thomas Modine, Paolo Denti, Tsuyoshi Kaneko, Vinayak N Bapat, Michael J Reardon, Michael A Borger, Syed Zaid

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background and aims: Surgical explantation of transcatheter heart valves (THVs) is rapidly increasing, but there are limited data on patients with THV-associated infective endocarditis (IE). This study aims to assess the outcomes of patients undergoing THV explant for IE.

Methods: All patients who underwent THV explant between 2011 and 2022 from 44 sites in the EXPLANT-TAVR registry were identified. Patients with IE as the reason for THV explant were compared to those with other mechanisms of bioprosthetic valve dysfunction (BVD).

Results: A total of 372 patients from the EXPLANT-TAVR registry were included. Among them, 184 (49.5%) patients underwent THV explant …

Development And Implementation Of A Digital Quality Measure Of Emergency Cancer Diagnosis, Paarth Kapadia, Andrew J Zimolzak, Divvy K Upadhyay, Saritha Korukonda, Riyaa Murugaesh Rekha, Umair Mushtaq, Usman Mir, Daniel R Murphy, Alexis Offner, Gary A Abel, Georgios Lyratzopoulos, Luke T A Mounce, Hardeep Singh

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

PURPOSE: Missed and delayed cancer diagnoses are common, harmful, and often preventable. Automated measures of quality of cancer diagnosis are lacking but could identify gaps and guide interventions. We developed and implemented a digital quality measure (dQM) of cancer emergency presentation (EP) using electronic health record databases of two health systems and characterized the measure's association with missed opportunities for diagnosis (MODs) and mortality.

METHODS: On the basis of literature and expert input, we defined EP as a new cancer diagnosis within 30 days after emergency department or inpatient visit. We identified EPs for lung cancer and colorectal cancer (CRC) …

Gestational Diabetes As A Risk Factor For Gbs Maternal Rectovaginal Colonization: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Vicki Mercado-Evans, Jacob J Zulk, Zainab A Hameed, Kathryn A Patras

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Maternal rectovaginal colonization by group B Streptococcus (GBS) increases the risk of perinatal GBS disease that can lead to death or long-term neurological impairment. Factors that increase the risk of rectovaginal GBS carriage are incompletely understood resulting in missed opportunities for detecting GBS in risk-based clinical approaches. There is a lacking consensus on whether gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a risk factor for rectovaginal GBS. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to address current conflicting findings and determine whether GDM should be clinically considered as a risk factor for maternal GBS colonization.

METHODS: Peer-reviewed studies that provided GDM prevalence …

Low Skeletal Muscle Mass Is Associated With Inferior Preoperative And Postoperative Shoulder Function In Elderly Rotator Cuff Tear Patients, Yang Yang, Binbin Zheng, Xiaofang Lin, Mengqin Zhang, Yongzhi Ye, Haixiao Chen, Xiaobo Zhou

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass is an important characteristic of sarcopenia, an increasingly recognized condition with systemic implications. However, its association with shoulder function in elderly patients with rotator cuff tears (RCT) remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between low skeletal muscle mass and shoulder function in elderly RCT patients.

METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on RCT patients who underwent chest computed tomography (CT) scans for clinical evaluation. Preoperative CT scan images of the chest were used to calculate the cross-sectional area (CSA) of thoracic muscle at the T4 level. The medical records …

Nasal Microbiome And The Effect Of Nasal Decolonization With A Novel Povidone-Iodine Antiseptic Solution: A Prospective And Randomized Clinical Trial, Diana Fernández-Rodríguez, Jeongeun Cho, Emanuele Chisari, Martin J Citardi, Javad Parvizi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The aim of this study was to assess the profile of nasal microbiome and evaluate the effect of a specific nasal decolonization solution on the microbiome. We conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled, and parallel-group clinical study of 50 volunteers aged 18 years and older. The subjects were randomly assigned to receive a nasal antiseptic solution, containing povidone-iodine as the main ingredient, (n = 25) or a control solution (n = 25). Nasal swabs were obtained before application (baseline) and at 3 timepoints after application (5 min, 2 h, 24 h). Nasal swabs were subjected to next generation sequencing analysis and cultured …

Safety And Effectiveness Of Using Disposable Ultrasonic Shears To Coagulate 5–7 Mm Blood Vessels: Protocol For A Prospective, Multicenter, Randomized, Parallel Controlled, Non-Inferiority Clinical Trial, Xipeng Wang, Chengqiang Li, Junqiang Fan, Jian Hu, Mingsong Wang, Hecheng Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The ultrasonic scalpel is widely used during surgery. It is safe and effective to close the pulmonary artery branch vessels of 7 mm or below with an ultrasonic energy device as reported. However, there have been no multicenter randomized clinical trial to assess the safety and effectiveness of using ultrasonic scalpel to coagulate 5-7 mm blood vessels in thoracic surgery.

METHODS: This is a prospective, multicenter, randomized, parallel controlled, non-inferiority clinical trial. A total of 144 eligible patients planning to undergo lung or esophageal surgery will be randomly allocated to the experimental group and the control group. The investigational …

Exploration Of A Potential Door Endpoint For Hospital-Acquired Bacterial Pneumonia And Ventilator-Associated Bacterial Pneumonia Using Six Registrational Trials For Antibacterial Drugs, Tori Kinamon, Ursula Waack, Mark Needles, Daniel Rubin, Deborah Collyar, Sarah B Doernberg, Scott R Evans, Toshimitsu Hamasaki, Thomas L Holland, Jessica Howard-Anderson, Henry Chambers, Vance G Fowler, Sumati Nambiar, Peter Kim, Helen W Boucher, Ramya Gopinath

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Desirability of outcome ranking (DOOR) is an innovative approach to clinical trial design and analysis that uses an ordinal ranking system to incorporate the overall risks and benefits of a therapeutic intervention into a single measurement. Here we derived and evaluated a disease-specific DOOR endpoint for registrational trials for hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia (HABP/VABP).

METHODS: Through comprehensive examination of data from nearly 4000 participants enrolled in six registrational trials for HABP/VABP submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between 2005 and 2022, we derived and applied a HABP/VABP specific endpoint. We estimated the probability that …

Artificial Chordae Implantation Vs Posterior Leaflet Preservation: A Comparison Of Midterm Results After Mitral Valve Replacement, Salih Salihi, Bilhan Özalp, Fatih Toptan, Ibrahim Kara

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

BACKGROUND: Various techniques have been proposed for the preservation of the subvalvular apparatus (SVA) in mitral valve replacement. This study aimed to compare the midterm results of posterior leaflet preservation with the results of selective preservation of the SVA involving artificial chordae implantation in terms of left ventricular performance in patients undergoing mitral valve replacement.

METHODS: In total, 127 patients were included in this study. Patients were allocated to 1 of 2 groups according to the techniques used to preserve the SVA. Patients in group 1 underwent posterior leaflet preservation: The anterior leaflet was completely resected, and the posterior leaflet …

Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Surgery Using A Cold Fibrillatory Cardiac Arrest Technique In Patients With Prior Cardiac Surgery, Ahmed Ali, Zachary Gray, Gabriel Loor, Alexis E Shafii, Todd K Rosengart, Kenneth K Liao

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

OBJECTIVE: Minimally invasive mitral valve surgery (mini-MVS) is typically reserved for patients who have not undergone open cardiac surgery. In the reoperative setting, using intrapericardial dissection for crossclamping the aorta through a minimally invasive approach can be difficult and, at times, risky. Cold fibrillatory cardiac arrest (CFCA) with systemic cardiopulmonary bypass without cross-clamping is a well-described technique; however, data about its safety for patients who undergo reoperative mini-MVS are limited.

METHODS: Data for 34 patients who underwent reoperative mini-MVS with CFCA from March 2017 to March 2022 were reviewed retrospectively. A mini right thoracotomy (n = 30) or robotic (n …

Whole Cervix Imaging Of Collagen, Muscle, And Cellularity In Term And Preterm Pregnancy, Wenjie Wu, Zhexian Sun, Hansong Gao, Yuan Nan, Stephanie Pizzella, Haonan Xu, Josephine Lau, Yiqi Lin, Hui Wang, Pamela K Woodard, Hannah R Krigman, Qing Wang, Yong Wang

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Cervical softening and dilation are critical for the successful term delivery of a fetus, with premature changes associated with preterm birth. Traditional clinical measures like transvaginal ultrasound and Bishop scores fall short in predicting preterm births and elucidating the cervix's complex microstructural changes. Here, we introduce a magnetic resonance diffusion basis spectrum imaging (DBSI) technique for non-invasive, comprehensive imaging of cervical cellularity, collagen, and muscle fibers. This method is validated through ex vivo DBSI and histological analyses of specimens from total hysterectomies. Subsequently, retrospective in vivo DBSI analysis at 32 weeks of gestation in ten term deliveries and seven preterm …

A Randomized Controlled Trial Testing The Effects Of A Social Needs Navigation Intervention On Health Outcomes And Healthcare Utilization Among Medicaid Members With Type 2 Diabetes, Amy Mcqueen, David Von Nordheim, Charlene Caburnay, Linda Li, Cynthia Herrick, Lauren Grimes, Darrell Broussard, Rachel E Smith, Dana Lawson, Yan Yan, Matthew Kreuter

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Health systems are increasingly assessing and addressing social needs with referrals to community resources. The objective of this randomized controlled trial was to randomize adult Medicaid members with type 2 diabetes to receive usual care (

Cerebrospinal Fluid-Based Spatial Statistics: Towards Quantitative Analysis Of Cerebrospinal Fluid Pseudodiffusivity, Yutong Chen, Hui Hong, Arash Nazeri, Hugh S Markus, Xiao Luo

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) circulation is essential in removing metabolic wastes from the brain and is an integral component of the glymphatic system. Abnormal CSF circulation is implicated in neurodegenerative diseases. Low b-value magnetic resonance imaging quantifies the variance of CSF motion, or pseudodiffusivity. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between the spatial patterns of CSF pseudodiffusivity and cognition.

METHODS: We introduced a novel technique, CSF-based spatial statistics (CBSS), to automatically quantify CSF pseudodiffusivity in each sulcus, cistern and ventricle. Using cortical regions as landmarks, we segmented each CSF region. We retrospectively analyzed a cohort of 93 participants with …

Targeted Sequencing For Hereditary Breast And Ovarian Cancer In Brca1/2-Negative Families Reveals Complex Genetic Architecture And Phenocopies, Jocelyn N Plowman, Evanjalina J Matoy, Lavanya V Uppala, Samantha B Draves, Cynthia J Watson, Bridget A Sefranek, Mark L Stacey, Samuel P Anderson, Michael A Belshan, Elizabeth E Blue, Chad D Huff, Yusi Fu, Holly A F Stessman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Approximately 20% of breast cancer cases are attributed to increased family risk, yet variation in BRCA1/2 can only explain 20%-25% of cases. Historically, only single gene or single variant testing were common in at-risk family members, and further sequencing studies were rarely offered after negative results. In this study, we applied an efficient and inexpensive targeted sequencing approach to provide molecular diagnoses in 245 human samples representing 134 BRCA mutation-negative (BRCAX) hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) families recruited from 1973 to 2019 by Dr. Henry Lynch. Sequencing identified 391 variants, which were functionally annotated and ranked based on their …

Accuracy, Thoroughness, And Quality Of Outpatient Primary Care Documentation In The U.S. Department Of Veterans Affairs., Michael Weiner, Mindy E Flanagan, Katie Ernst, Ann H Cottingham, Nicholas A Rattray, Zamal Franks, April W Savoy, Joy L Lee, Richard M Frankel

Health Services and Informatics Research

BACKGROUND: Electronic health records (EHRs) can accelerate documentation and may enhance details of notes, or complicate documentation and introduce errors. Comprehensive assessment of documentation quality requires comparing documentation to what transpires during the clinical encounter itself. We assessed outpatient primary care notes and corresponding recorded encounters to determine accuracy, thoroughness, and several additional key measures of documentation quality.

METHODS: Patients and primary care clinicians across five midwestern primary care clinics of the US Department of Veterans Affairs were recruited into a prospective observational study. Clinical encounters were video-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Using the Physician Documentation Quality Instrument (PDQI-9) added to …

Involvement Of The Choroid Plexus In Alzheimer's Disease Pathophysiology: Findings From Mouse And Human Proteomic Studies, Aurore Delvenne, Suzanne E Schindler, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Structural and functional changes of the choroid plexus (ChP) have been reported in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Nonetheless, the role of the ChP in the pathogenesis of AD remains largely unknown. We aim to unravel the relation between ChP functioning and core AD pathogenesis using a unique proteomic approach in mice and humans.

METHODS: We used an APP knock-in mouse model, APP

RESULTS: ChP tissue proteome was dysregulated in APP

CONCLUSIONS: Together, our findings support the hypothesis of ChP dysfunction in AD. These ChP changes were related to amyloid pathology. Therefore, the ChP could become a novel promising therapeutic target …

Mucosal Signatures Of Pathogenic T Cells In Hla-B*27+ Anterior Uveitis And Axial Spondyloarthritis, Michael A. Paley, Lynn M. Hassman, Grace L. Paley, Nicole Linskey, Ryan Agnew, Paulo Henrique Arantes De Faria, Annie Feng, Sophia Y. Li, Elisha D. O. Roberson, Philip A. Ruzycki, Ekaterina Esaulova, Jennifer Laurent, Lacey Feigl-Lenzen, Luke E. Springer, Chang Liu, Wayne M. Yokoyama, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

HLA-B*27 was one of the first HLA alleles associated with an autoimmune disease, i.e., axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and acute anterior uveitis (B27AAU), which cause joint and eye inflammation, respectively. Gastrointestinal inflammation has been suggested as a trigger of axSpA. We recently identified a bacterial peptide (YeiH) that can be presented by HLA-B*27 to expanded public T cell receptors in the joint in axSpA and the eye in B27AAU. While YeiH is present in enteric microbiota and pathogens, additional evidence that pathogenic T cells in HLA-B*27-associated autoimmunity may have had a prior antigenic encounter within the gastrointestinal tract remains lacking. Here, …

Whole-Genome Sequences Reveal Zygotic Composition In Chimeric Twins, Christopher J Yoon, Obi L Griffith, Malachi Griffith, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

While most dizygotic twins have a dichorionic placenta, rare cases of dizygotic twins with a monochorionic placenta have been reported. The monochorionic placenta in dizygotic twins allows in utero exchange of embryonic cells, resulting in chimerism in the twins. In practice, this chimerism is incidentally identified in mixed ABO blood types or in the presence of cells with a discordant sex chromosome. Here, we applied whole-genome sequencing to one triplet and one twin family to precisely understand their zygotic compositions, using millions of genomic variants as barcodes of zygotic origins. Peripheral blood showed asymmetrical contributions from two sister zygotes, where …

Assessing Environmental Injustice In Kansas City By Linking Paediatric Asthma To Local Sources Of Pollution: A Cross-Sectional Study., Elizabeth Friedman, Brian R. Lee, David Rahn, Beto Lugo Martinez, Atenas Mena

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

OBJECTIVE: A grassroots environmental-justice organisation in Kansas City has been examining the disproportionate exposure to air pollution experienced by residents living fenceline to the largest classification railyard in the USA. Prior analyses showed limited increased risk for asthma exacerbation for patients with asthma living closer to toxic release inventory (TRI) facilities and railyards. In this study, we assessed geographical asthma and environmental disparities, to further explore community-level disparities.

DESIGN: This is a cross-sectional study of population-level asthma rates, which included rates for all asthma encounters and acute asthma encounters (urgent care, emergency department, inpatient admission). Distances from census-tract centroids to …

A Reinterpretation Of The Relationship Between Persistent And Resurgent Sodium Currents, Samuel P Brown, Ryan J Lawson, Jonathan D Moreno, Joseph L Ransdell

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The resurgent sodium current (I

Brilacidin, A Novel Antifungal Agent Against Cryptococcus Neoformans, Camila Diehl, Dong-Gyu Kim, Tamara L Doering, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

UNLABELLED:

IMPORTANCE: Invasive fungal infections have a high mortality rate causing more deaths annually than tuberculosis or malaria. Cryptococcosis, one of the most prevalent fungal diseases, is generally characterized by meningitis and is mainly caused by two closely related species of basidiomycetous yeasts,

Morphotype-Specific Calcium Signaling In Human Microglia, Sofia Nevelchuk, Bianca Brawek, Niklas Schwarz, Ariel Valiente-Gabioud, Thomas V Wuttke, Yury Kovalchuk, Henner Koch, Anke Höllig, Frederik Steiner, Katherine Figarella, Oliver Griesbeck, Olga Garaschuk

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Key functions of Ca2+ signaling in rodent microglia include monitoring the brain state as well as the surrounding neuronal activity and sensing the danger or damage in their vicinity. Microglial Ca2+ dyshomeostasis is a disease hallmark in many mouse models of neurological disorders but the Ca2+ signal properties of human microglia remain unknown.

Methods: We developed a novel genetically-encoded ratiometric Ca2+ indicator, targeting microglial cells in the freshly resected human tissue, organotypically cultured tissue slices and analyzed in situ ongoing Ca2+ signaling of decades-old microglia dwelling in their native microenvironment.

Results: The data revealed marked compartmentalization of Ca2+ signals, …

Quantifying Sustained Health System Benefits Of Primary Care-Based Integrated Disease Management For Copd: A 6-Year Interrupted Time Series Study., Christopher Licskai, Anna Hussey, Véronique Rowley, Madonna Ferrone, Zihang Lu, Kimball Zhang, Emilie Terebessy, Andrew Scarffe, Shannon Sibbald, Cathy Faulds, Tim O'Callahan, Teresa To

Health Studies Publications

BACKGROUND: Severe exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a trajectory-changing life event for patients and a major contributor to health system costs. This study evaluates the real-world impact of a primary care, integrated disease management (IDM) programme on acute health service utilisation (HSU) in the Canadian health system.

METHODS: Interrupted time series analysis using retrospective health administrative data, comparing monthly HSU event rates 3 years prior to and 3 years following the implementation of COPD IDM. Primary outcomes were COPD-related hospitalisation and emergency department (ED) visits. Secondary outcomes included hospital bed days and all-cause HSU.

RESULTS: There were …